Forbidden Magic by Jo Beverly

Source: Received for review

Publication date: February 1, 2011

Publisher: Penguin Group

I give this book 3 out of 5 stars

Summary from Goodreads.com: In Regency London, a young woman and her family are about to be thrown out of their home on Christmas Eve by their cruel landlord. In desperation, she wishes upon an ancient family heirloom–a risque pagan statue with magical powers–to save her family. But she never expected her savior to be a wealthy earl with a marriage proposal! As she accepts the good fortune granted to her, the magic of the statue exacts a high price in return. Does she have the strength to overcome those who plot to separate her from her newfound love, and the unpredictable powers of the statue?

I have to say first off I’m glad I did not see the cover of this book when I was asked to review it.  It’s not the sort of cover that would usually get me to pick up a book and in fact I tend to avoid them.  That said it was an enjoyable read.  Sax was so delightfully quirky that I fell in love with him despite his tendency towards destruction (I do have to admit it sounds very freeing to be able to release your tension the way he does).  His animals and servants will crack you up.  Meg on the other hand was so unbelievably stupid at times that it was hard to really like her.  I really did not understand why she did a lot of things she did and honestly she was really lucky that Sax was such a forgiving guy.  I felt like Sax really carried this book and was what kept me reading.  The story was pretty predictable with the damsel in distress and the playboy swooping in for the rescue but it’s what I usually enjoy about these types of books.  The only other negative for me was at one point there is a scene in which Meg and Sax are discussing Meg’s slimy landlord committing child rape and it was brushed of pretty lightly as a fetish.  That really sat wrong with me and knocked this book down a couple notches in enjoyment level.

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